Skeena girls volleyball team rallies to win in PG

The Jr. B Girls Volleyball Kodiac Classic was held over the Sept. 28-29 weekend in Prince George at Prince George Secondary School (PGSS) and Terrace’s Skeena Middle School took top spot.

A total of nine teams attended — four in one pool — Duchess Park, College Heights, Kelly Road and Chetwynd — and five in the other, D.P. Todd, PGSS, Cedars, Mackenzie and Skeena.

On Friday, Skeena’s first match against Cedars was challenging as both teams demonstrated a good balance of offensive and defensive skills.

But Skeena finished the match with a win 25 – 19 in the first set and 25 – 11 in the second set.

The team won their match against D.P. Todd in two close sets.

And on Saturday, Skeena’s third match versus PGSS involved consistent serving and good dominance on the net — taking the first set 26 – 24 and 25 – 19 in the second set.

Blocking was a key factor to their success in this match.

Skeena’s fourth game vs. Mackenzie saw Skeena dominate early and never look back winning the first set 25 – 11 and 25 – 21 for the second.

These results placed Skeena first in their pool and in good position for the playoffs to follow.

Their fifth quarter-final game was against PGSS again and this game stayed close with both teams taking the lead but Skeena proved to be stronger in the end winning 25 – 18 and 25 – 20.

This set up their semi-final game against Duchess Park where Skeena again took an early lead and was able to cruise to victory with smart court coverage and confident attacks.

The finals saw Skeena meet the also-undefeated College Heights.

As expected, this nail-biting match proved to be Skeena’s biggest challenge with the lead volleying back and forth. Both teams screamed with every point earned and the crowd was treated to an exciting match involving long rallies and good team spirit.

Skeena had confidence going into the second set after taking the first set 25 – 23. But College Heights kept a 2 to 4 point lead through most of the match until Skeena tied it up 19 – 19. College Heights then gained the lead and had three opportunities to win the set but Skeena held their ground and tied it up at 26-26 and then finished with a 28-26 victory.

During the award ceremony All Stars went to Skeena’s Chelsey Loset and Anke De Wit while Carly Davies took the tournament MVP award.

Coach Frank Marrelli was impressed with the teams self confidence and “never quit attitude.” The team never lost a single set the entire tournament and had to battle back in a number of situations to secure their victory. This was only the teams’ second tournament this season and will hopefully act as a springboard for future tournaments, he said. He would also like to thank all the parents that helped the team in their success while making the trip to Prince George.